BILL MOYERS: Welcome. Although we’ve only been back on the air for a couple of months, in your letters, e-mails and webpage comments a single theme emerges time and again – thank you for the reporting, for the interviews and for your commentary, you tell us, but the problems seem so insurmountable, the forces arrayed against us so large, what can I do, as one person, to make a difference? How can I help bring change to America, how can I get involved in the issues facing our country?

Well, on this edition of Moyers & Company, we’re going to tell you about some of the ways people are taking action and we’ll introduce you to some young activists – all of whom are involved with an enormous citizen effort that’s just a few days away. It's a nationwide initiative called the 99% Spring, and it takes place the week of April 9th. Its organizers aim to teach 100,000 Americans about income inequality and then send them out to spread the word from door to door and even at the shareholder meetings of our too big to fail banks – the banks we bailed out with our billions of tax dollars when the economy went up in smoke and flames four years ago.

The inspiration for the 99% Spring comes from the Occupy movement and mobilizations like this one, in the fall of 2009, when citizens from all over the country came to Chicago to confront the American Bankers Association. Organizer George Goehl brought together a coalition of grassroots organizations big and small.

GEORGE GOEHL: The one thing we have. Our own political currency is people. And people are ready to hit the streets. Today is the beginning of a much larger set of mobilizations. They’re going to take place all across the country. We’re just getting started.

BILL MOYERS: That was George Goehl then and here he is now. One of the brains behind the 99% Spring. George Goehl been a community organizer, a strategist and trainer for 20 years. He’s executive director of National People’s Action. That's a network of grassroots organizations in 14 states using direct action to battle against economic and racial injustice. Welcome, George. GEORGE GOEHL: Hey, thanks for having me.

BILL MOYERS: It's been three years since I saw you last. And Congress has enacted the Dodd-Frank Bill with some oversight of Wall Street. And the president has been sounding like a populist from time to time. Are you satisfied with the progress?

GEORGE GOEHL: We're not. I mean, I would say that it's been hard for the president to tap into that populist bone in his body. I think some of us question whether it's there. It often feels like he's kind of trying to eat his worst, or least favorite vegetable. Putting some broccoli down his throat. And he can do it for a couple days. But then he kind of moves back towards the middle.

But he's got a chance to prove himself. And I think what we need is a leader that's willing to put direct pressure on the big banks to come to the table. There's a number of things that they need to do. But some of them are very clear. They can write down principle on mortgages to fair market value. The new settlement that they just signed with the attorneys general and the big banks, it actually is around $25 billion.

That may sound like a lot. But that's 3.5 percent of the $700 billion that we are underwater as a country. So the president has power to help make this happen. He could lead the way on this. But we also have to push the big banks to pay fair share of taxes. And the biggest corporations in this country, particularly ones that crashed our economy, are not paying into the system.

BILL MOYERS: Here's some headlines that I brought to read to you. One, the Volcker Rule. That was the rule that traders can't speculate for their own personal gain using the money you and I pay in taxes.

That's part of Dodd-Frank. "The Volcker Rule, Made Bloated and Weak." That's "The New York Times." This one, "States negotiate $26 billion agreement for homeowners." But it's really going to benefit the lawyers who work for the banks. Not the homeowners. What do those headlines say to you?

GEORGE GOEHL: I think you can score more victories for the banks. And I think that what we've seen is they clearly have a stranglehold on our electoral system and our legislative process. And that if we want to shift our politics, we both have to make politicians who side with the big banks and the larger corporations pay a price for not siding with everyday people.

But we also have to engage directly with those corporate CEOs. You know, when I started organizing around banking issues, you could go down to a very important bank in the city of Chicago, and you could do a small demonstration. And probably get a meeting with the bank president.

Well, in 1990, there were 37 banks in this country that by 2009 were four banks. Now these CEOs hardly ever have to face the public. They certainly aren't touring poor neighborhoods on the South Side of Chicago and other cities. And so the shareholder meeting is actually one place where we can go directly to them and engage them because they have to show up to that meeting. And we're not only going as protesters to be on the outside. We're actually going as shareholders go to on the inside.

GEORGE GOEHL: Yeah. We've bought as many shares as you need to get into the meeting, we've bought.

BILL MOYERS: So what are you going to do when you get inside?

GEORGE GOEHL: Well, I'm-- interesting thing about the shareholder meeting is you do, as a shareholder, have a chance of getting the mic and directly engaging with the CEO. And last year, a woman of faith from central Illinois, Dawn Dannenbring Carlson was at the JPMorgan Chase shareholder meeting. And she said to Jamie Dimon like I believe in a,

BILL MOYERS: He's the CEO, right?

GEORGE GOEHL: He's the CEO. Yes. Of JPMorgan Chase. Said, "I believe in a compassionate, loving God who cares about people. Do you believe in such a God?" And he said, "That's a hard question to answer." But what we saw there was an opportunity for people that are customers at JPMorgan Chase who've been victimized by JPMorgan Chase actually engage the CEO in a real conversation, and put some heat on those folks.

We would like to challenge these CEOs to come out and see the neighborhoods and the communities that they've devastated. We've got blocks in Chicago that have ten bank-owned properties sitting foreclosed, barely boarded up in a neighborhood. That is a moral crisis. Like, if that happened in Jamie Dimon's neighborhood or in Brian Moynihan, the head of Bank of America's neighborhood. It'd be front-page news.

I think we have to look at two things. Which banks are too big to fail? Because we cannot have another bailout. Banks that are too big to fail are too big to exist.

But we also got to look at what banks and what corporations are too big to be held accountable. Because if they're too big to be held accountable, how are we going to have a functioning economy that allows workers and everyday people to get their fair share. But also a democracy that flourishes and allows people to engage and have real power and decision making.

BILL MOYERS: But in the spirit of Milton Friedman, one of your former Chicago residents, the only accountability corporations have in the free-market system is to make as much profit as they can for their shareholders.

GEORGE GOEHL: And we have to change that.

BILL MOYERS: How would you change it?

GEORGE GOEHL: I think there's two things. One, you know, when corporations were originally created in America, they actually had to demonstrate a public purpose that you were going to serve. And you could make profits. But you also had to say, "We're going to do this good thing for the public." So how do we move back towards that?

But there's also an interesting movement that really started out of Maryland. Jamie Raskin, who's a professor and also a State Senator moved a policy called B Corporation. Benefit corporations. And so it's a law. It's been passed in seven states. And it's going to be passed in more. That basically gives these corporations a protection against that clause that says, "Your number-one mission is to produce for your shareholders."

And in that case, you often do things that are bad for the public. I think this is a movement towards corporations having to meet a more thoughtful bottom line. That not only includes profits, but also includes their impact on communities and on the environment.

BILL MOYERS: You're making demands at the shareholder meetings. What are you demanding?

GEORGE GOEHL: A number of things. But, I think, like, we'll take, let's stick with Bank of America, for instance, 'cause there'll be thousands of people at the Bank of America shareholder meeting. One, write down the mortgages in your portfolio that are underwater to fair market value. Secondly, we need corporations to pay their fair share of taxes. Bank of America has 371 tax shelters. A number of them on the Cayman Islands.

And have done everything they can to avoid paying their fair share of taxes. If you're going to get some of the benefits that come with being in a corporation in America, you need to have some responsibilities too. And third, Bank of America and a lot of the banks invest in a lot of things that are bad for our country.

Bank of America is one of the lead financiers of predatory payday lending. These payday lenders charge 455% interest rates, largely target communities of color.

The average $250 payday loan cost the borrower $750. So essentially, stripping wealth out of some of the poorest communities of our country. We need them out of that business. So those are three demands that we'll take to them at the shareholder meetings among others.

BILL MOYERS: So you're calling this shareholder spring?

GEORGE GOEHL: The larger effort this spring is called 99% Spring. And within that, there are two key components. One is actually training a 100,000 people in a new vision of what the economy could look like. And engaging people across the country in that conversation. Not only are-- this is not a predetermined vision that a bunch of us have figured out. But it is a challenge for us all to think big about what might be possible.

BILL MOYERS: What do you mean to imagine a new economy? Imagine a new future?

GEORGE GOEHL: Well, I think that we're at a crossroads. And there's three roads we can take. One, we can say, "Things are so dire. Let's just fight to keep what we've got. Let's fight to keep our homes. To keep our jobs. To keep our unions. To keep other policies that have been good for people."

BILL MOYERS: That's pretty human nature there?

GEORGE GOEHL: Yeah. And to

BILL MOYERS: To hold on.

GEORGE GOEHL: Particularly in low moments like this. Secondly, we could say, "Well, let's try to get back to what we used to have. Let's get back to the economy pre financial crisis, and back to the Bill Clinton economy." But even that, we know that economy was marked by incredible racial disparities, gender disparities and was bad for our environment.

So hopefully, we can think bigger than that. The third is to try to really reimagine what is possible. And I'm not saying any of us have the answers. But I think now is the moment. Right now because things are dire to think big about what we might be able to do.

BILL MOYERS: Example. Give me one example of what you mean by thinking big.

GEORGE GOEHL: We need to completely downsize a number of the biggest corporations in the country. We would start with the banks. But a number of them that are not only too big to fail, but also too big to be held accountable.

But at the other side, we need to actually give birth and rise up in terms of a more local, community-controlled economy in communities across the country. And sometimes when we talk about this, people are like, "Well, that sounds kind of Utopian."

BILL MOYERS: Utopian—exactly.

GEORGE GOEHL: These are not new ideas in terms of the cooperative movement and in terms of everyday people having more democratic control over the economy. What's different is the moment. You've got a much broader cross section of the country saying like, "Will this economy ever really work for me like it did in the past?"

Or you have communities of color that's saying like, "This economy really never did work for me." And so you vehicle a broader cross section of the country asking hard questions, and starting to look for new answers. And I think the community and cooperative economy's particularly interesting for two reasons. One, it actually retains wealth in communities. Less wealth leaves a city and goes off. Or a neighborhood and goes off to some gated community or to some stockholder. But secondly, I think that there-- people feel that there is something spiritually missing in their lives right now.

People want to be in community with other folks. And I think a more community-controlled economy is a place that can happen.

BILL MOYERS: But you've been leading protests and marches all these years now. And I've been covering them. And it's hard to see that anything structural and significant has changed.

GEORGE GOEHL: We have to ask ourselves do our actions fully line up with our convictions. We say we want this level of change. But are we really taking that level of risk? And so actually, we need a movement of truth tellers. People that are willing to go out and say, "This is what's wrong. We've found who's behind it. And this is what it could look like." But saying those things will not always make you popular.

We look back at the Civil Rights Movement, the Women's Suffrage Movement and with great admiration. But at the time, this was not a group-- these were not groups of people winning big popularity contests. They were ostracized in their own time. So we need a movement of truth tellers willing to say, "We think this is possible." And then actually going out and putting our bodies in the line in the name of a new economy.

BILL MOYERS: Are you asking that of your followers now when they go into those stockholder meetings this spring? Are you saying they should put their bodies on the line and be arrested?

GEORGE GOEHL: I think we're saying that people should engage in action that shines a spotlight on the crisis and on those behind the curtain.

BILL MOYERS: All right. I'm going--

GEORGE GOEHL: In many cases in--

BILL MOYERS: --into one of these meetings and I'm going to follow you into one of these meetings. And let's say that Brian Moynihan is there as the CEO of Bank of America. What are you asking me to do? Now be specific.

GEORGE GOEHL: For a specific set of people that are ready to risk arrest, we'll be engaging in actions that will move to that level. But not everybody that's coming is going to be at that place. And if you even look back at the Civil Rights Movement, it's not like everybody--

BILL MOYERS: Oh, no.

GEORGE GOEHL: --said, "I'm ready to risk arrest." But I think there's an increasing number of people that are saying, "We are ready to risk arrest in the name of what we believe."

BILL MOYERS: Bill McKibben and the environmentalist who led a movement to be arrested at outside the White House at the protest of the building of the Keystone Pipeline from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. They were arrested.

Spent three or four days in jail. Had a big impact in the news. And at the moment, Obama backed away from approving the Keystone. Now we have a story that the president and government are going ahead with Keystone. Just reconfiguring it so it gets around what those protesters were opposed to. You don't win in the long run, against this system.

GEORGE GOEHL: That’s why we have to change the system. And I would say that I think that we're at what is, I'm hoping is the tail end of a 40-year effort to undermine the role of government. To disempower organized workers and to deregulate the financial markets in the corporate sector.

If you were in the meetings and saw what I see happening around the country, you would be so hopeful. Because whether--

BILL MOYERS: What meetings?

GEORGE GOEHL: --whether it's a meeting in Minnesota with a bunch of rank-and-file members of a grassroots organization or in a meeting of organizational leaders from across the country meeting in Washington, D.C. to hatch strategy, people are thinking in bigger ways. People are putting their egos to the side, and their values up front. And saying, "How do we come together to create a real sea change in our politics and our economy?"

BILL MOYERS: But that is a familiar story in America life. Protest, demonstrations. The search for a better system is inherent in the American experience. And often is the loser against these mighty powers of the economic structure.

GEORGE GOEHL: Yeah. I would say we've been laying down. There have been exceptions. We've had mobilizations. We've had actions. We've had people push back. But I would say the onus is on us as the American people. If we continue to lay down, we'll continue to be walked over.

But if we step up in bigger numbers, if we come to these trainings that we're going to hold April 9th through the 15th and learn about a potential vision around the new economy, about how to engage in real, nonviolent, direct action, and move into the streets in greater numbers than we have in a long time, we have a chance to shift things. There's an appetite out there. And it's up to us as everyday people to say, "Am I going to sit on the sidelines and watch this? Or am I going to really engage in this fight?"

BILL MOYERS: How is what you're planning this spring different from what we saw in the footage I began the broadcast with?

GEORGE GOEHL: I would say, you know, a number of things. One, there is a larger set of organizations saying, "There is no road to a new and just economy if we don't build a real corporation accountability movement in this country. So you have organizations and grassroots members who work on issues as diverse as jobs and worker rights, health care, immigrant rights, banks and the environment saying separately, "We want a bunch of a corporate campaigns to try make Bank of America to do one thing." Or, "Get this coal company to do another thing." Or, "Get this employee to be a little better."

In isolation, those campaigns won't add up to enough to shift the politics of the country. But if we actually bring them together and bring our bases, bring service workers, domestic workers, communication workers, families fighting to save their homes, farmers, environmentalists together around a common agenda, building between now and the shareholder meeting, we not only have an opportunity to shift the story around what's really happening with the economy in this country. But we actually move people together.

Because people's lives are not bifurcated between I'm an environmental person. I'm an health care person. I'm a jobs person. People's lives are, you know, a big mix of all of that stuff. And so this spring, you're going to see people from all these different kind of issue silos come together under one agenda. And work together, train together and act together.

BILL MOYERS: You describe what used to be the base of the Democratic Party. And I'm sure if you got a chance as one organizer to another to see Barack Obama, he would say to you, "George, just help me keep those people in the Democratic Party, and we'll make their lives better."

GEORGE GOEHL: I think people are losing faith in the political process as it's run right now. And I think the Super PACs are a big example of that. But so I think people feel like they have to take things into their own hands, and engage directly at pressuring the corporations.

BILL MOYERS: Sounds like the Tea Party, right? They're taking things into their own hands.

GEORGE GOEHL: You know, in that way, I think there is a similarity. I mean, I think you're seeing people's movements showing up and saying, "We have to figure out how to reclaim our democracy." We hear a lot from the Tea Party that the government is the problem. We actually believe government is the prize. But right now it sits--

BILL MOYERS It’s the what?

GEORGE GOEHL It’s the prize. It’s the prize. But right now, it sits in a trophy case on Wall Street. So sometimes government doesn't feel like it's working for us. Well, it's not going to work for us until we take it back. And so that's why we have to build a much bigger movement of people willing to both confront corporate power, and then shift this summer towards engaging in the elections. And we have to be more serious about candidates that do not match up with a certain set of values or principles. And saying, "Hey, if you're not going to come with us on being willing to tax the corporations, to challenge corporate power, and to protect people, you're not going to get our vote."

BILL MOYERS: But there's still one huge wall between you and your aspirations. I know it's there, and you do too. Let me play something from our earlier conversation in which you acknowledge what you're up against.

GEORGE GOEHL on Bill Moyers Journal: I do think that on this fight, we don't win unless we figure out how to toxify the banking money in politics. Until...

BILL MOYERS on Bill Moyers Journal: Do what?

GEORGE GOEHL on Bill Moyers Journal: Toxify that money. It's amazing to me that the same banks that created the foreclosure crisis, sent the economy into the tail spin, needed and billions and billions of taxpayer bailouts, are still able to hand out millions in campaign contributions. You'd think there would be a political price to pay for taking that money.

BILL MOYERS: That was December 2009. That was Heather Booth sitting there with us. She was involved in the fight for financial reform.

Not only have you and others failed to do that. But it's worse than it was the last time you were here. The Citizens United decision from the Supreme Court has helped unleash an avalanche of new money into the campaigns.

GEORGE GOEHL: It's really terrifying. There's no doubt about it. But I do think what you're seeing is you're seeing a backlash around Citizens United. The money in politics that I actually think is particularly powerful because it's not just coming from the left or the right. But I think both members of both parties, and different ideologies recognize that this level of money in our politics is not going to work, so.

BILL MOYERS: It's just gotten worse.

GEORGE GOEHL: It has. There's no question about it.

BILL MOYERS: So what keeps you, why do you keep fighting? You're not going to win.

GEORGE GOEHL: Oh, boy, I, there's no way I believe that. Organizers are the eternal optimists. I think.

BILL MOYERS: You may win in your daughter's lifetime. She may win. But you know that what you're up against.

GEORGE GOEHL: That's good enough. Winning in my daughter's lifetime is good enough. I think that, like, any movement worth its salt looked ahead to the long haul. If we get too obsessed with are we winning the tactical victories here and there, it can be a little, you know, tough for us.

Because I think a lot of times what we've done over the last 30 years is we've really focused on the issues. And figured out how do we win on the issues. But if we really want to shift the country, we have to say, "How do we engage in the big battle of big ideas?" 'Cause what corporate conservatives did is, like, they said, "Let's undermine the role of government. Let's promote free markets."

Though when free markets also means free markets that get a lot of good stuff from government. "Say that we'll already live in a racially just society." Even though we know that's not true. "And promote rugged individualism." And they moved those ideas out in a very systemic and intentional way over 40 years. And it has led us to this point.

So we now have to say, "How do we engage long haul and an idea shift that includes talking about how government could be an equalizer in our lives if we reclaim it? That markets have to be regulated to protect people and the environment. That we do not live in a racially just society. That structural racism continues to keep families out of opportunities."

And that we have to name that racial justice would benefit us all. And we have to go after it and make it happen. And lastly, we're part of a community of people that are in this together. And as we win that idea battle, which I think we will win, that's when our victories on the issues will follow.

BILL MOYERS: You know, I have a corporate underwriter. My sole corporate underwriter for 25 years. Mutual of America. They've been terrific to us. How do people distinguish between corporations that are trying to be good citizens and those you have on your hit list?

GEORGE GOEHL: I think there's a set of things that corporations can do that will make them clearly good citizens. Good, corporate citizens in this country. And so I do think it is, like, making sure they treat workers with dignity. And that these are jobs with justice and people get paid.

That they actually are very conscious about their environmental impact in this country. That they pay their fair share of taxes. And that they are thoughtful to how they contribute to the community that they work in. They-- we have lots of corporations in this country that do good stuff. The 40 that we'll be visiting this spring are ones that clearly failed on all those fronts.

BILL MOYERS: So how do people find out about what you're doing?

GEORGE GOEHL: There's a couple ways. There's a website called "The 99 Spring." The99spring.com. And that's where people can learn how do I go to one of these trainings to really learn about how people are thinking differently about the economy. And also how do I learn about nonviolent, direct action and how to do that, and how to engage in that. And out of those trainings, in many cases, people will then go do demonstrations.

And then secondly, the build towards the shareholder meetings, there's a website called ConfrontCorporatePower.org. And people can go on there and learn: how can I engage in some of these 40 corporate campaigns focused on 40 corporations. All will have demonstrations at the shareholder meetings. How can I plug in and be a part of this fight to really restructure our relationship with the corporate sector?

BILL MOYERS: You've been doing this for a long time. Why did you become an organizer?

GEORGE GOEHL: I'll give you the short version. But I had got in a little bit of trouble, and ended up at a soup kitchen. And didn't expect to be there. Was a little surprised to be there. And went and ate. And when I was done, I felt a little uncomfortable about being there. So I asked if I could wash some dishes. And one thing led to another. And I actually got my act together and my life together at that soup kitchen. And thank goodness, three years later, I realized soup kitchens weren't enough for me. And I had to become an organizer.

BILL MOYERS: What makes a good organizer?

GEORGE GOEHL: I do think eternal optimism. I think a sense that we are, you know, able to, like, create change and that we can engage people. But I think it's also a great organizer starts where people are at, and actually understands what people are feeling and what they are needing. And figures out how to engage them in the development of a strategy and a plan to create change. But I think probably even more in, than anything, I mean, the job of an organizer I really think is often two things. It's to get people to do things they didn't know they wanted to do when they met you. And then secondly, get them to do that with a lot of other people.

BILL MOYERS: So your daughter? Her name is?

GEORGE GOEHL: Adelaide.

BILL MOYERS: Well, given the rate I'm going, when she's ready to take your place on the lines, would you make sure I get a chance to interview her?

From the Web

Organizer George Goehl on Fighting Back

March 30, 2012

Bill Moyers talks with community organizer George Goehl about how — and even if — average people can fight back against self-rewarding actions of banks and corporations. “If we want to shift our politics,” Goehl tells Moyers, “we have to make politicians who side with the big banks and the larger corporations pay a price for not siding with everyday people.”

Goehl is a co-organizer of The 99% Spring, a national effort to train 100,000 Americans to teach the country about income inequality in homes, places of worship, campuses and the streets. Goehl is also executive director of National People’s Action, a network of grassroots organizations using direct action to battle economic and racial injustice.

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Was watching it and they said that the banks are using tax loop holes to avoid paying taxes and that they should not use those and pay more. Don’t blame the banks, go after the tax code and change that.

Brian Bulger

I wonder to what degree if any people consider the structure and success of the Mondragon Cooperative Corporation in the Basque Country of Spain.

It is featured in this youtube video; also available at video.google.com:

I think it provides both a vision of how things might be made different. However, perhaps more importantly, it illustrates a potential method for changing the culture around us by competing within industry against traditional company structures using groups of interdependent coops built intelligently with rules and governing structure that promote their existence, guard against their demise.

All the while, they promote community, stability, fairness and empowerment. And all of this seems to lead to strong productivity, good problem resolution, and true investment both in and for the community.

Brian Bulger

Wanted to add that I really liked the program. Thank you.

19obert63

The government is our prize. Love you guys. We do need to do it for Adele and Raul, Felicity, Xander, Hannah, Michael, and Jessie…,

Anonymous

And let’s not foget the big push to militarize the entire US police force, locally, small towns all over even. Training is being done by military experts and now citizens have become the ‘enemy’ no longer do cops keep the peace, they ‘attack the enemy’….YOU and ME. Small towns are becoming marketing dreams for military contractors to spread their wares, equiping small towns(at least one 1 know of) with tanks even. What in hell can a small town do with a damnmilitary tank, or even afford to buy one? A college in North Carolina even has its own SWAT team. And the NRA wants everybody to own a gun and there is no limit for them, who to include, 3 yr olds packin’ would suit them just fine. I was 17 and sucker punched as I waited for a traffic light to change, and had I had a handgun, I would have blasted the son of a gun who punched me. I am glad I didn’t have a gun at the time, as I might have killed somone for a minor act(sure It hurt, but not that big of a deal to kill someone over), yet the NRA wants everyone to have a gun, concealed hopefully, and have it in church, in college classes, high school classes, wherever. The NRA has TOO much power, and they never show the first part of the 2nd Amendment having to do with a militia, and it makes me wonder, the Founders were wordsmiths, if they had not wanted the context to be having a gun in a militia movement, they would have left the part about the militia out of the Amendment. Besides one shot guns was what they had, not Uzis, assault rifles, 31 shot handguns. Does the NRA really think that all citizens with a handgun could fight off the US military if they really wanted to take over this country? We citizens would not have a chance.

Anonymous

Competing is good in sports contests, but I think cooperation is underrated as a way to move this country forward and do the most good for the highest number of people. Competion just seems to pit people against each other which creates a caste system and a class system Marx was correct in his observations on. I belong while you do not, I’m important whereas you are not. But you and I equally working together means far more in the greater scheme of things. 2 Chimps who were engaged in a fight, and the loser was beaten back, and a fellow member of their troupe accompanied him after his losing put his arm around the loser to console him as he knew he had lost the fight and felt bad probably. This example has competition and cooperation at hand, and which seemed the better way?

This site is worthless; they remove comments counter to the left’s drumbeat.

Unsanitorial

Look at Syrian footage to learn what small municipalities can do with a tank. Also consider what provincial rural idiots might do with armed drones operated from a video console in fortified police headquarters. I don’t put anything past brainwashed paramilitary fascists.

Unsanitorial

Our secret government sponsors homegrown right wing militias. Can you remember what happened in Yugoslavia during those great Clinton years? Wes Clark was bombing co-operatives and commuter trains while sparing western corporate properties. It all started from development loans, collections by austerity, the spin-off of valuable real estate. The militaries stood guard while the militias did ethnic cleansing. It wouldn’t be armed homeowners against our military. They would work in tandem with police and Blackwater to help ferret out all scapegoats and dissenters, with unlimited collateral damage. Probably wouldn’t be any Mosques or Unitarian Churches left after the first month. Americans are steeped in bloodlust and sexual predatorship by approved media. No amount of bombing or shooting can get us out of this quagmarsh we call USA. We have to set dignified clever examples and shame lower urges. The heroes of this struggle will never get any Earthly reward, only personal satisfaction. Chris Hedges is pretty close to summing it all up.

Unsanitorial

We’re a Grate Country these days, about to merge with the ashes, if the People don’t take back government.

Unsanitorial

We’re socially very different from chimps. Remember though that chimps live under predation by humans and increasing environmental stress and that these things are reflected in their social options, social structure and individual behavior. I think we can learn from that tragedy. Chimps ain’t out there on another planet. They are a kind of sentient co-human on whom we are committing genocide. You find the same maladaptations in elephant groups. The suicidal beaching of sea mammmals may be an ultimate civil disobedience. We are not alone here and this is not our dominion to ruin. We are responsible for the whole thang. Notice the scarcity of honey bees in recent years and how some common bird species are missing. We are at a tipping point. Why does our media suppress so many large petroleum disasters, as recently in the North Sea. It’s because People would react.

Unsanitorial

Financial interests now write and interpret the law. Federal enforcement stops at the border. Massive civil actions over a decade would be required to change that. Just look at our government and business reinforcing the Egyptian backslide to military dictatorship. Right now, them with the gold makes the rules. Wanting the gold won’t fix it. You have to want Justice.

Unsanitorial

That black cat saying, “Get off my lawn!” makes a terrific header.

Unsanitorial

Send me your comment to Martutah@@yahoo:disqus .com Let me see what was censored. I will advocate for thoughtful posts.

Unsanitorial

Co-operative membership encourages and empowers members to take leadership roles and results in all-around political sophistication. That may be why US law makes forming co-ops difficult. People lose inhibitions to oppose injustice once they realize their collective power. And they learn to trust their neighbors and colleagues rather than being isolates.

Unsanitorial

CEOs from competing firms never hesitate to co-operate against government regulation and public interest.

Teds

Post below is faithful to the original:

Total left-wing babble; blame everyone but the individual’s choices.

A good friend of mine owns a large quantity of real estate. In the mid-90s he was telling me there were very few qualified home buyers, and it was limiting sales. During the last decade the government’s home loan lackeys – Fanny and Freddie – backed loans in a market teeming with unqualified individuals and families, ill-prepared for home ownership.

And the banks had to take the money and make the loans if they wanted access to funds for good loans.

In 2004 I had a Wells Fargo loan officer offer my then-wife and I a 100% loan on a $400,000 condo in downtown Seattle with “…just a $5,200 payment now and a 5-year ARM.” Remember those loans? “Interest-only” payments were in the range of $1,860 per month.

The flush on his face when I asked “If he ever felt guilty burying people in loans like that?” had me concerned he’d have stroke right there.

For fact full information on what’s wrong with America read Charles Murray’s new release, Coming Apart. Additionally, Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson delivered great insight in to why and when the wheels will come off on Charlie Rose’s March 29th show.

Goehl is making excuses to commit to socializm with the elitest, intelligencia taking full control of all elements of government. They talk gut sense with the catch phraises we like to here, up to a point. Then they display their real colors. He is the same skill level as the occupant of the white house. Why do we need another failed path?

Jjjluckyart

Get ready, America! This land is YOUR land, this land is MY land… Ready to take it back? Mr. Jefferson would approve, and the alternative is systemic collapse. And — believe it or not — Our Rulers know it.

Karl Hoff

It seems that Bill Moyers got a little frustrated in that it seems that nothing is really changing much……..and he is definately right. The problems we have today so far as I see it started with the beginning of the corporate explosion in the industrial revolution. Ten of the delegates that signed the Declaration of independence were farmers, 10 were merchants, none were corporate CEOs. In 1850 about 64% of the work force were farmers. So, this failed corporate world we live in is not that old and it has suffered many resessions where people lost everything since its beginning. I think most thought I had fallen on my head when I decided to manufacture bicycles, tools and anything I could in my 20′ x20′ shop in the 1970s. I was told I could never compete with the big corporations. Many of the dealers that laughed at me waited in line to buy my products. Boy were they wrong. I used no ads, no sign on my shop, no hours, took no checks or credit cards, leaving me to keep nearly everything I made……..wouldn’t the big corporations like that. If a customer wanted me to help them, they just had to called to see if I would be there for them. It worked so good that I could only do work for about one third of my customer, leaving room for more to do the same. I had no problems selling better products for less then even China. Not everything can be made in a small shop, but it is not the size of the shop, but the fact that corporate America cannot survive without making huge amount of what they sell just payoff all the middle men, highly paid supervisors, ads, transportation cost, and on and on just to stay in business. I won’t say the corporate has failed………never succeeded is a better choice of words. Everything that Mr. Goehl says is true, but we have been down this road many times before. Did Teddy Roosevelt stop the “Robber Barrons”? They have never been stopped as far back in history as we can go. If the 99%ers would add to their protest, which I definately agree with, the beginning of starting to make products that are not sold online where warraties are like a vanishing act and even getting information about how to use their products may take the better part of a day. Then the money flow would go to those that are really, really looking to stop the increadible selfish greed that comes from the corporate power. PS. Don’t look to congress that has all the answers….with a 9% approval rating!

http://1world1wage.org/ sharee anne gorman

It’s great that the 99% movement is getting media attention but those are only fleeting moments that are soon swept under the distraction and scandal rug.

Ambushing the 1% in their board meetings and asking them to change policy that will result in loss of revenue is pointless.

The dirty little secret of Capitalism is that PROFIT comes from somewhere – denying workers of a living wage and over-charging for deliberately disposable products.

So, organize labor by enacting a Global Labor Treaty for Living Wages (to make off-shoring jobs to 3rd world nations un-profitable).

And organize consumers (only buy products that engage in community building – like living wages for labor and eco-friendly manufacturing policies for the environment) .

Protest in a way where the participants can keep their jobs, not get pepper-sprayed and see their efforts affect quarterly profits – which will get the attention and reluctant cooperation of the 1%

And while I’m on my soap-box, Republicans should be ashamed for kowtowing to corporations….

Real Christians create co-ops!!

And Democrats should be ashamed for not crying foul when the president had the task of pulling the country out of crisis and decided to use Reagan as his model rather than FDR.

Anonymous

Profit comes from thievery in capitalism’s corporatism.

http://profile.yahoo.com/SZRRYLS6DRPYC777J73FVFE6RQ Patrick

good job moderator, Ted’s still full of B S

http://profile.yahoo.com/SZRRYLS6DRPYC777J73FVFE6RQ Patrick

True and the way the Nazis solved the civilian gun problem was to shoot 10 or more civilians if a soldier was shot.

http://profile.yahoo.com/SZRRYLS6DRPYC777J73FVFE6RQ Patrick

You republicans are the last ones that should talk about someone using catch phrases, thats all you idiots use in an election campaign!

Gscrbr5

Good Capitalism requires proper competition rather than collusion. As banks get more combined, the preditor mode kicks in much like a Great White Shark growing!

Sharks have no conscience, only a ravenous apetite.

Since disclosure of contributors to political campaigns and the influence of PAC’s in the political process have failed miserably, perhaps we need a movement for Term Limits to Congress and State Legislatures.

We are being conned with slick ads to elect officials—then they do as the big contributors require to get re-elected. It has gotten out of hand and we average citizens are the prey for the Great Whites of corporations and Big Oil!

Springster

I agree (and had said the same thing to my friend). What individual would not take advantage of a tax “loophole” like mortgage deduction and credits? Or turn down a raise? (I know, a few billionaires with consciences such as Warren Buffet do that.)

I thought the view that corporations should walk through the field of tax loopholes (or baskets of money) avoiding each one — was the weakest point made by the otherwise thoughtful and brilliant Mr. Goehl. But I think we CAN expect corporations not to pay legislators to pass these hidden and complex loopholes, and we CAN expect our legislators to have the moral fiber not to pass them in return for contributions.

And we CAN expect corporations to have at least the same social conscience as individuals: To pay and promote their employees fairly, with benefits. To Not support predatory practices (like BOM’s investments in paycheck cashing operations). To give a fair portion of their profit to support grants, scholarships, etcs., as we individuals give what we can to support our churches, vote for overrides when needed. (And I’d define “fair share” as that which they can spare and still remain economically viable, same as individuals decide how much to give to charity).

I concur with Patrick. It’s funny to imagine Freddie and Fannie as two fat idiots with indelible “APPROVED” stamps hammering away. Just remember that the banks used a continuous roll press humming along at 115 mph.

GradyLeeHoward

Thanks Jackmartin for helping out in my absence. You came from retirement to skillfully capture the tone and mission of what I do here as a fond avocation. I put a little something in the mail to show my appreciation. And Bill Moyers, you ain’t done bad since I left neither.

GradyLeeHoward

Thanks for another colorful personal reminisce, Karl. Did you ever build a tandem bike?

GradyLeeHoward

Geazer5: Why would you try to restore a rusty 1929 Mercedes when you can buy an electric commuter tram and haul several thousand riders each day? Socialism conserves energy. (I just learnt to say that in a communal method acting workshop).

And Dadanyi, they still have bears but in a sprawling forested enclosure that extends to the river. And two carrot vendors were continuing to prosper. So you see, we can do better if we work as a team. We can hold one another back from disturbing the bears.

The problem I see is the 99% need to have a starting point. In my mind that would be to take the money out of politics. Publicly financed elections. Washington today does not care how the masses feel, only their benefactors. Until that is changed we can’t change anything.

When the masses demand this they may listen and then maybe we can go on to work on things to improve life for the rest of us.

Gscrbr5

So would we say Term Limits at the state and national level are badly needed????

GradyLeeHoward

Wouldn’t matter if we got the same type bought hucksters every time, which under the current rules, we would. Maybe impeachments would be good, especially of Supreme Court Justices.

Beckypruuves

If you still have a primary coming up, use your vote differently. I intend to use the “write in” by typing in Occupy in every race. Can you imagine, if thousands of people did this? The politicians would poop their pants. We the people and I’ll tell you why There is no “I” in Occupy!

http://twitter.com/RR_Anderson RR Anderson

fight the power!

Karl Hoff

I sold & owned tandem bikes, but never built one. I built racing, touring, motocross and one proto-type bike I called the truck, with lockable wooden boxes on the front and back. I started as a bike shop, then the 1973 Oil Embargo put a near stop to getting shipments need to stay in business. That’s when I decided to turn my shop into a mirco manufacturing, starting with painting them. That expanded to nearly everyone coming to me, even other bike shops. My motocross were more popular then some of the big names of today and one distributer took my stuff to 4 states, came back with orders as high as 20,000. I was furrious! My best week was 22 motocrosss frames. I got calls from everyone. I never let him in my shop again. That’s the point I tried to make and that is that everyone wants to expand by starting every conceiveable way to make as much money as possible and that’s when everything gets flushed down the ten foot toilet. I was once offered a job from one of my big competitors……..WOW! What a smart way to get rid of me. I didn’t bite. The point I tried to make is that with fuel prices going through the roof and labor prices following all over the World the only way that we can bring back the Made In American is not by thinking that if one has a good product they can best market all over the globe. The best way to market today is as I did and the best way to create new jobs is to be able to build products that last. The ones that build products that last the longest do not put themself out of work as many think, but instead does the opposite. Remember if you have short runs of the products made, it takes only a short amount of time to make something else and the customers have lots of money to buy them, because they aren’t spending it buying the same products that fail over and over again. If I were young and doing what I did I believe the demand today would be great. Isn’t it strange that so many people will be so critical of the corporate world, then when they get the chance to market something, they go corporate!! Thank you for the reply

Anonymous

An open letter to my president.

Dear president Barrack H. Obama

“The money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization. We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit.

Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. The joy and moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits. These dark days will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves and to our fellow men.

Recognition of the falsity of material wealth as the standard of success goes hand in hand with the abandonment of the false belief that public office and high political position are to be valued only by the standards of pride of place and personal profit; and there must be an end to a conduct in banking and in business which too often has given to a sacred trust the likeness of callous and selfish wrongdoing. Small wonder that confidence languishes, for it thrives only on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection, on unselfish performance; without them it cannot live. Restoration calls, however, not for changes in ethics alone. This Nation asks for action, and action now. Our greatest primary task is to put people to work…”2. (FDR’s Inaugural)

Amongst all the petty rank and wrangle swirling in a whirlpool of Washington’s half-truths and false promises. In a desperate plea can’t we settle down and gather our senses on the core of our beliefs, to find hope in the promise of tomorrow.

pedro santos

fedupwithpoliticians

Goehl is absolutely right about educating 100,000 about what is happening in the country at this time. Read the whole book, Winner-Take-All Politics. I work with educated people that don’t have a clue what is going on within this government with Republicans leading the charge for the profit of the 1% and a also bankrupted government since 1985 (“starve the beast”) . DeTocqueville didn’t foresee Wall Street’s ability to “buy” and corrupt the entire government or “those that acquire wealth” while they are in the government. He wrote the book American Democracy.

Gscrbr5

Is there anything commendable about the current legislature of your state or our country??????

I am seeing too much fighting and fussing in NC and I think all Legislative bodies could do their work in half the time. The longer they are in session, the more we pay and more our taxes accomplish little or nothing.

Term Limits and less legislation is badly needed—all legislation should have a 10 year time limit and automatically be discarded or renewed as situations change.

Why is it that, once in, bureocracy never goes out????

adam fisher

Given the intricate and perhaps intractable problems of the times, I do think that there is revolution in the air … perhaps even literal revolution. I am sympathetic to those who observe that “you can’t make an omelet without cracking eggs.” The outrage inspired by the Citizens United decision among others warrants some cracked eggs. But revolution, whether literal or metaphorical, spills very real blood and I think it behooves those with whom I firmly agree to remember the responsibility that goes with cracking eggs … a responsibility aptly summed up by LaRochefoucauld in his maxim, “The intelligence of the mass is inversely proportionate to its number.” It is the masses that create sometimes very necessary revolutions, but without shouldering the responsibility for very tangible flaws that any group might exhibit, the glorious revolution devolves into something less than glory. President Obama was swept into the White House holding a banner of “hope” and “change” in the wake of the spectacular manipulations of his predecessor. True, he was saddled with the crushing economic and expansionist policies that preceded him, but the question, without rancor, needs to be asked: Where are “hope” and “change” today and in what way will today’s revolutionaries sidestep the fate Obama has clearly suffered?

No revolution is ever as factually bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as when it twinkled in its expositors’ eyes, but taking responsibility for the upcoming failures and not just basking in its successes might be a change from potatoes.

I applaud our omelet-makers and wish them every success. I also wish them the capacity to take responsibility for their scattered egg shells.

adam fisher

fedupwithpoliticians

The founding fathers feared a “cabal” manifesting itself in America that would provide “the germ of destruction” of our Democracy. In 1835 DeTocqueville didn’t believe that there was enough money to corrupt the whole government. He was wrong. He also didn’t envision the “planned and persistently orchestrated political machinery that twists the will of the people” that was the 1971 brain child of a corporate lawyer that wanted a Supreme Court Justice position. That machinery manifested itself in 1980 and is now completely entrenched in the Republican Party. Read Winner-Take-All Politics. Democrats also abandoned the people.Dealing With The Corrupting Influences by Order of Their Power to Corrupt1. An elected or appointed official can’t possibly represent the public when his “public service” serves only to ingratiate him with a lobbying firm to achieve a multimillion dollar salary the day after leaving public service. Those firms don’t hire people that spoke up for or voted for the public while they were in office. 2. Many are trying to get the money of the “strong supporters” (wealthy families and corporations) out of politics by constitutional amendment.

3. A second constitutional amendment is needed to give the public a “vote of no confidence” to disband a dysfunctional House and Senate in times like these (9 % approval rating).

4. The term limits that Dick Armey abandoned once Republicans achieved a majority are badly needed. Career politicians corrupted the system absolutely.5. Insider Trading was the least of these influences and has been changed (we think).

Gscrbr5

Any form of government can be corrupted if enough money and wealth are involved and allowed to control. Communism in Russia fell due to party members getting many nice things the average citizen did not get. Now they have adopted Capitalism.

In the same fashion Capitalism works well is fair and normal competition exists. When Government is too involved if tax favoritism and overseas outsourcing for their advantage, we get what we have for the last 4 years:

*Banks bailed out but not loaning money to the taxpayers *Auto bailed out but not cutting prices reflective of citizen ownership *A multi-millionaire running for the Republican primary who did more to take advantages from destroying jobs and paying only 14% in personal income taxes with much offshore money out of the American economy

IF we don’t see the mis-match and manipulation now, we will never have a clue!

Just get back to basics of a free enterprise system where anyone—I mean any one—can succeed with hard work and honesty.

TERM LIMITS are needed for Congress the same as for the President—-and perhaps even the Supreme Court!

GradyLeeHoward

Inspiring account and values, Karl. Your diagnosis about the ratio of transportation fuel costs to prevailing wages is instructive; instructive even to me who just Swiss-banked a big return on my petroleum futures prediction. You’d assume that if gas gets higher bikes will be ridden more, but in an affluent economy without many safe bikeways, and where the primary lucrative bike manufacturing market is in the high end competitive sports models, that assumption is counter-indicative. The fool who buys a production model bike to get fit gets injured or hit by a car. I have to haul my bike miles and miles on my car to a safe trail or bikeway to ride it. That makes no sense, but it’s profitable for our major corporations, more profitable than practical. Practical artisans like Karl are the first casualties of corporatism. So many businesswomen who follow Moyers will be puzzled why Karl did not take his 22K orders to China or other slave labor state. For them the success pattern they admire always obscures the downside. A tiny tithe of the spoils will provide dispensation. It’s all so automatic, so remote, so easy…. like buying crude oil futures contracts.

Karl Hoff

Grady, your view is totally correct. I no longer ride after 100,000 miles of training because where I live, I just couldn’t take the chance that that third dear blindly running across the road would be there and end me. I am selling my oil stocks and hope to get completely clear of the stock market. As I’m sure you know that the market can only go up if their are new investors. That will be more difficult when people figure out how much they will get and how much those selling the dream get. It’s pretty simple. When someone works for the corporate world, they are surporting it and at the same time offering no resistance to their increasing power. If 300,000 worked for one, can one person stop them? Not a chance! If one person made the same product would they cause any real threat to the corporation? Not a chance. If 100,000 left and made the same product, would the corporation be worried? They would be foolish not to. Would the 100,000 fear retaliation? Not so easy for the corporation. What are they going to do sue 100,000 little businesses?……..wouldn’t that get the press’s attention!! For a long time I have tried to live by the idea that one good deed done is one bad deed I didn’t do, one bad I don’t do is one bad deed that can’t do. Meaning that you can best stop others from adding to the huge problems we face today is by simply not allowing those who build, service or grow shoddy products that are built using far to many workers needed to produce them while having no regards for our very fragile planet. All people have to do is watch the PBS special on Whaling and the quest to get the whale oil, to see the history of what extent people will go to to sustain a life that any child could see was not sustainable. Today we are doing the same thing with fossil fuels. The only differance is that the demand is so great, that we have no way to fill the huge demand other then that dirty word……..conserve!!!!

Dnadanyi

Glad you came back.

Dnadanyi

They have made plans to live over aquifiers in South America.

Dnadanyi

Do you believe that there is a corelation between the environment and autism?

Dnadanyi

What do you think about Bill and Melinda Gates and their African donations?

paf

There is a movement growing now to fund national elections using public funds to remove corporate and other lobbyist vote buying from the equation. Arizona and Maine already have this public funding. The report I listened to on PBS, already has lobbyists and Republican lawmakers balking at the idea as unAmerican, not how the system works, and contrary to corporate and wealthy interests’s rights as citizens to petition the government. There is a difference between petitioning and buying votes. however. And, these same citizens have an obligation to pay taxes as well. The problem is Congress is et to defeat or did defeat this public funding law. What makes you believe they will listen to “we the people” if we are a nation of the “rich, by the rich, and for the rich”now? They haven’t listened yet unfortunately.

Paul1fair

Thank you first for getting back into the fray. When you returned to television, my wife and I took heart. And thank you for having George Goehl on the show. He clearly knows what it takes to change politics in this country.

Profit potential remains in futures contracts but not so much in a few stock shares. The big fund runners trade millions of shares with quantum speed. Little guys get run over. I’m glad you’re out of the petro-stocks. The best investment is in small scale manufacture of durable versions of needed products. I’m helping a guy here in Jersey get a shop going to make wire cheese slicers and other handcrafted kitchen tools. His slicers adjust and come with extra stainless wire that can be clamped in place. The handles are composite and large, very comfortable… if you eat block or hoop cheeses. Cheese can ruin a meat slicer I hear.

Truthseeker

It has been such a joy to read these comments. Gives me hope.

Gb22137

Good interview. Hope many many people join the 99% spring movement.

Dnadanyi

Grady I finished Confessions and it confirmed what I had suspected about the IMF and World Bank. Still think the Euro is also involved but do not understand the nitty gritty. If these neoliberals know what their ideas have done to the less developed countries and Europe why are they also targeting the USA? I guess their goals have turned from imperialism to pure greed. It also reconfirmed the obvious about Iraq. Did the investment banks get their ideas from these organizations or visa versa? I know that Citibank or it’s forerunner targeted the LDCs many years ago. More one learns more one learns one does not know….Who is going to expose what is going on in the world?What are the plans for the occupy movement? Most people do not know what is going on there.

j doober

Consider this:

The Supreme Court watered down the Rico act so that the banks and Wallstreet cant be charged for fraud and racketeering

They allowed unlimited election spending thus allowing the wealthy and Corporations to Buy and take over our Democratic elections

It is scary to realize that the Supreme court has been corrupted and bribed by money

Rather than spreading Democracy to other countries it seems that they have spread their style of corrupt Government to us

Dnadanyi

Regarding funding national elections: What about making donations for public funding of national elections TAX DEDUCTIBLE? Everyone wants to get the money out of politics. So this would be their chance. They could put their money where their mouths are. If there was enough publicity for such an idea I believe that people would really stand up for the idea in a big way.

Dnadanyi

Teds I suggest that you read Age of Greed by Jeff Madrick. It is a fantastic history of how greed has brought down the economy. Step by step and he names names. Jim Johnson and his executives at Freddie were extremely corrupt and greedy (as Morgenson explains in Reckless Endangerment) but the community investment act and Freddie and Fannie were not the main culprits as right wing talk show hosts like to simplify. They did join the mortgage originators and investment banks in order to compete in 04 and 05 and did buy the subprime mortgages. But the miasma was well underway and then the derivitives really finished off our economy.

Bobking2

George Goehl is absolutely right. The National Peoples Action has a noble cause and needs to be supported. The 99% need to take back our government for Democracy. Many corporations need to be exposed for the mis-deads they are commiting in the name of profit. I, for one will visit their websites and have decided to take an active part to be an activist and not just a complainer. Thank you very much Bill Moyers, for your dedication to shining the light for us.

Val Rogers

He makes such a logical point right in the beginning. Revive the principle of a Public Benefit Corporation. A corporation has to have some public benefit to enjoy the benefits of corporate status. It used to be that way. Just like we used to have a transaction tax on stock trades and the top tax rate used to be 70%. We had policies & laws that regulated the cannibalistic tendencies of capitalism. Those are needed! Without them we get what we have today.

Agree with so Much, but…

If only he weren’t pro-immigration… I agree with so much of what he’s saying, and am so glad he’s shining the light on how corporations are the ultimate welfare queens. Immigration is just this huge blind spot for some people when it comes to the damage it does to wages, public services, additional strain on the local environment, etc… He -does- seem to grasp that illegal aliens, in particular, are used very methodically to suppress wages, but there are also H1B visas, espeically in IT, and an overall strategy to flood the labor market with workers, legal and illegal

Bruce Dalton

Listen up! Sen. Baucus is retiring opening chair for OR. Sen. Ron Wyden. He listens to people not corps. Contact him and inform with Goehl’s directions.

Herebert Pairitz

No Prosperity for the Working Class

As long as we tolerate the existence of political parties in our political system there will be no prosperity for the working-class citizens of the United States. Both of our major political parties depend on the campaign contributions from big corporations given to them as payment for permission to exploit the public by outsourcing jobs and manufacturing plants to foreign countries, competing with $2/hr. foreign labor in the WTO, unfair trade agreements, huge subsidies, large corporate tax breaks, offshore tax loopholes, and the list goes on. In order to obtain about eighty percent of these campaign contributions the Republican Party promotes a reduction in benefits to the working class by diminishing Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and many other financial assistance programs. In spite of all of this exploitation of the working-class citizens they still support both parties. When citizens vote for political parties they sacrifice their power of voting on individual issues like abortion, general welfare, corporate welfare, tax breaks, budget reductions, and defense spending. All they can do is vote for what either party offers them and vote as a block and not as an individual. They give up rights to a democratic form of government (ruled by the ruled) and get a plutocracy (ruled by money).

To obtain more details and verification on this subject read the book entitled Prosperity forthe Working Class.

Anonymous

I don’t know if this account is live anymore but would like to contact you regarding some frame history. Thanks

Veteran

People say they don’t vote because it’s the choice of the lessor of two evils. that is BS That is surrender. When millions more people were registered to vote and actually voted, even if they wrote in their choice, the corps couldn’t afford to bribe the masses it would take to sway the elections. Then the voting crap started like it did in the lead up to the Civil War… Anyone notice it’s the same states that are doing it this time, as it was then?

Register voters, get the crooks scared. The corps can’t afford to spread billions and billions to corrupt an unpredictable voter population.

With 2 million or more new registered voters, they will freak out and self implode.

Save your country by registering to vote!

Anonymous

No real answers.

Bonnie J. Williams

Wow, why repost this 2012 feature. This is ridiculous…it’s all ‘think-talk’. Deregulate the financial market—we’ve heard and know that. This guy talks a moralistic and ‘values’ have to change. Geesh. I can’t listen to the whole thing. I’m 65, been through this before. See you.

Bear Brinkman

Good post

Anonymous

I am still alive, I value my privacy. If you post on this show I will try to answer any questions you have. Karl Hoff

tobin1

No disrespect intended as to whether you were alive. It was a shot in the dark to see if the owner of the account was still using it and I totally understand and respect the privacy issues. You might not know but you have been introduced into the narrative of vintage bicycle frame building (road and in my questions to you-BMX.) Could you possibly give me any information as to when you built the frames and how many and if you built any other bmx related items. I thank you in advance for your help.

Anonymous

I built about 600 to 700 of them In the mid to late 70s. I also made bunny pegs, some sealed bearing for both BMX as well as for pro-bicycles. I built only one light weight BMX with a threaded bottom bracket shell. I also built tools and painted a lot of bike frames that I guaranteed would shine better than chrome. Some of my pro frames were really prized because a few I copper plated and polished all the fittings and trim, than masked them carefully cutting the tape with a sharp razor blade, then I sand blasted the frame so the paint would adhere well and I chose the color that I would paint it, because there were only certain colors that would contrast with the copper. I cut my own design in the lugs, they called a martian foot prints. I also chose the color that I hand painted my design which was done once the frame was painted and I carefully removed the masking tape. Once I painted the lug work, I gave the entire frame a coat of catalyzed clear coat. When the bike was assembled It was truly breath taking with the contrast between the copper lug work and chrome of the head set and the aluminum of the rest of the components. The labor and difficulty of making such frames led me to stop making them, but the demand was unreal. One costumer came in and wanted one so bad, he said he would give me a blank check and I could fill it out for what ever I wanted. I turned him down, but it showed the trust that people had in me and my work. The reason my BMX frames held up so well was rather than MIG welding them like most did I torch welded them, which allowed the metal to heat and cool slowly. I also rather than bending the rear tubes in a U shape, I bent them only enough to weld them to the bottom bracket. When ever you bend any tubing, the length of the tubing stays relativity the same length, so those frames that bent the tubing in a U shape, caused the tubing to be stretched thin where it was welded to a rectangular piece of tubing. This allowed the U to flex back and forth, causing a break on the thin outside curve of the tubing. You can always tell my frames because they are built with EMT conduit. Its 1020 steel just the same as all mild steel, far cheaper and easier to get and come in just the right diameter. I have friends that bought my frames and built them into bikes for their kid, that are now passing them to their grand kids. They will never sell them and that is my advise to all, There will be no more made. Karl Hoff

moderator

Tobin1 and KarlHoff2,

If you could, it would be great if you could continue this conversation in another forum. I don’t want to stop you guys from talking but this is probably not the place for this discussion.

Thanks

Moderator

moderator

Hi KarfHoff2 and Tobin1,

If you could, it would be great if you could continue this conversation in another forum. I don’t want to stop you guys from talking but this is probably not the place for this discussion.

Thanks Moderator

tobin1

Thank you for your reply and apologies to the moderator. Mr. Hoff, if you would like additional communication, please contact me at gimondi@hotmail.com. If not, I understand. Again thanks.

jsegal

When the people lead the leaders will follow! Don’t wait for a savior or organization to spring up and lead you.

People must organize ourselves, and unite for the greater good of the nation and in fact our world. WE are not alone!~ But we must start alone by ourselves where we are.

What we do here in the United States has a great impact on the entire planet!

How can we get people to even agree on what they are organizing for??

I think we can create our own “meetup” groups in our area. Wherever you live even if your group is a group of you and your mate that is great! Rhyme intended

My idea is we can create an “Active Citizen Group” where we meet to talk about the issues of our town, our state and country and learn about how our local state and federal government works.

Make a list of who currently is serving as: 1. School Board Members 2. City Council Members 3. Board of Supervisors 4. Mayor 5. State Senator /State Assembly person 6. State Congress Member & Senator

Then distribute that list to every member of your group in a new notebook for your Active Citizen Group.

1. Have a sign in sheet to get peoples emails to update them on important local, state and federal elections and issues. 2. Have a website where your group can organize online be it your own or FB group or Google Hangouts. 3. Go to your local events at the parks, at Town Halls, at public speeches and invite people you hear speaking or see as active citizens to join your group. 4. Make a list of your groups top priorities to accomplish. What is it you want to “organize for”? For example: a) To get people who share your values elected? b) To improve your local school? c) To share helpful and accurate information with your community? d) To build a local free take one-leave one library? e) To help reduce homelessness and help local shelters/pantries? f) To help clean the beaches and local public parks? d) To help women’s shelters and fight human trafficking? e) To help local seniors via seniors community centers? f) To lobby the city council for a living wage or anti-citizens united resolution? g) YOU DECIDE TOGETHER!

ACTIVITIES YOU CAN DO: 1. Bring a laptop to a local meeting space in a restaurant or firehouse and show recent episodes of:” > Free Speech TV/ Democracy Now > Rachel Maddow/All In/Now with Alex Wagner, >Youtube movies of Howard Zinn >Whatever inspires you to do more together!

2. Hold a Debate on local issues or national issues and invite your neighbors and local elected representatives to attend.

3. Have a “game night” play Monopoly and use it as an opportunity to discuss Net Neutrality and the dangers of too much money in the hands of too few people to a free democratic Republic.

The more we get away from being isolated behind computer or phone screens and get back to meeting each other in public spaces the better off we all will be.